Bitcoin mining and transactions use more electricity than Ireland and 19 other European countries

When Bitcoin hits the headlines, it tends to be because its value is rocketing, or because there has been a token theft. Now, however, the financial cost of mining the cryptocurrency has been revealed. The energy consumption of Bitcoin has been investigated by Digiconomist, and the cost is staggering. Using more power per year than Ireland, the mining of Bitcoin as well as performing checks gobbles up 30.14TWh every year. See also: The Pirate Bay is secretly running a Bitcoin miner in the background, increasing your CPU usage JPMorgan chief dismisses Bitcoin as 'a fraud' currency, ideal for drug dealers… [Continue Reading]